Archive for the “Beatitude” Category

If you’re looking for the next best book to read this month, consider Beatitude, the official selection of The Next Best Book Club (TNBBC)—the largest book club on Goodreads, with 14.3K members—slated for discussion in February. TNBBC founder Lori Hettler gave Beatitude a 4-star-strongly-recommended review, writing, “Beatitude, simply put, is an exceptionally well written [...]

Who should star in Beatitude on the the big screen? I asked a group of readers with very heartfelt views—the seven members of the Staten Island book club I visited on Friday evening. Their suggestions were intriguing: Zachary Quinto as Harry, Channing Tatum as Jay, Freida Pinto as Zahra and Gael Garcia Bernal as Matteo. [...]

New York’s largest independent bookstore, The Strand, is also on every list of the city’s best. I’ve always felt that way and even more so since my novel Beatitude was published two years ago because The Strand has consistently included Beatitude among its famous 18 miles of books ever since. I’ve signed three different batches [...]

The latest review of Beatitude comes from Empty Mirror, a wonderful arts and literary magazine devoted to literature, film, music and art, with a special interest in the Beat Generation. Empty Mirror’s owner and editor, Denise Enck, wrote the review herself: “Closs’s knowledge of and love for the Beats and New York shines through; the [...]

Beatitude has just received another 5-star review—by Monika Vig on the World of Diversity Fiction site—and I have to say that to receive a review, let alone a 5-star review, more than a year after Beatitude’s publication, is truly inspiring and gratifying. Here’s an excerpt: “I loved, loved, loved it! Beatitude has some sad [...]

Looking back at the year that followed the publication of Beatitude, I was struck by how much my first novel had changed my life in ways I’d never imagined. Every author dreams of hitting the bestseller lists, seeing their characters on the big screen and winning all sorts of awards. And, in a way, all [...]

Katie Jennings, founder of the fantastic I Love Book Trailers site, loves cats so it’s no wonder she loves the cover of Beatitude (by Anthony Freda) and the book trailer. “Make sure to keep watching till the end,” she says. See for yourself here.

Have you ever fallen for a fictional character? Author Anthony R. Cardno has, and in an article titled “My Literary Crushes,” he reveals that Beatitude’s narrator, Harry Charity, is one of his latest fixations: Harry is completely, totally, in every way, shape and form, average. And yet I still finished the book having the hugest crush on [...]

Elise McMullen is one of the most beautiful and insightful writers I’ve had the pleasure to publish as editor of TrekWorld. Read no further than her articles “The Young Woman and the Sea” and “Thanking the Animals We Eat” and you will instantly know what I mean. But before Elise ever contributed to TrekWorld, she [...]

A tip of the cup to composer, conductor, author, mentor and Beat legend David Amram on his 82nd birthday! Amram generously provided incredible support for Beatitude early on with an awesome testimonial. I finally met him in September when Amram’s Quartet performed at the Cornelia Street Café in the West Village. Of course I [...]

One of the best things Beatitude has brought to my life is the connection with like-minded souls whom I might otherwise never have met. Most recent case in point: Loren Kantor, “a passionate, curious Woodcutter/Writer living in Hollywood with a love for movies, music and old Los Angeles.” Kantor discovered Beatitude through my author site and emailed to tell me about his most recent project: a woodcut of Jack Kerouac.